Déjà vu
by purpleflames
Summary: When Thor looks into a strangely familiar woman he finds a story older than he thought Midgard could possess, a web of lies and lives as complicated as the Fates' designs and at the center of it all, his now dead brother.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I haven't written in a very long time so this feels awkward. Any constructive criticism would be appreciated, thanks for reading this anyway!**

* * *

Glasses clinked as people toasted one another, soft laughter like chimes floating through the room. The open ballroom with its gold and cream curtains, large windows looking out onto a sea of green trees and a night sky with a gleaming slice of moon, was filled with restrained happiness. Even the lights were a subdued pale golden hue, very much unlike the neons that were usually favoured by the host, Tony Stark.

Tony himself sat at a table, surrounded by others like him. Well dressed men with lots of money and a penchant for small talk disguising the real big talk. He looked utterly bored out of his mind, only Pepper's hand on his arm keeping him anchored there.

It was a glamorous night and while Thor did not know how to feast in such a restrained manner, he enjoyed himself nonetheless. Perhaps it was as simple as the presence of his lady, Jane Foster, at his side but this was a lot more fun than the last few fetes he had attended.

"Oh hey, there's Dr Koothrappali from Caltech, Thor, we have to talk to him!" She said excitedly and dragged him over to a small dark man stood, awkwardly bobbing his head to the beat. When Jane and he drew near the man froze, eyes growing wide. "Dr Koothrappali!" Jane said excitedly.

Instead of responding in words the man smiled tightly before grabbing drink off the trays being circulated and downed it in one go. "Dr Foster. And _Thor_. I'm a huge fan!"

"Thank you." Thor answered.

"I meant of Dr Foster but I'm a fan of the Avengers too. Even dressed up as you for a Halloween party once." He grinned bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Thank you for your consideration."

"It's cool, we drew names out of a hat, I was just glad not to be Black Widow again." The man nodded his head knowingly.

"Umm Dr Koothrappali, I was wondering if we could talk astrophysics." Jane asked, the smile on her face nearly breaking it in half.

"Suuure." He said and grabbed another glass from a tray, downing it quickly before offering his arm to Jane Foster and Thor was left alone once again.

He watched his comrades as they circulated in the crowd around him. Tony was clearly annoying Pepper if the exasperated look on her face was anything to go by, Natasha was laughing at something a rather rich man was telling her and Thor could tell even from the distance that she was not fond of him at all but was squeezing him for all he was worth, Bruce was trying to make himself as small as possible in the corner but not quite succeeding as Jane and Dr Koothrappali joined him. Even Steve had found himself a dance partner.

The captain and his partner drew closer to where Thor was and they turned in a circle clearly laughing and as they did so, Thor got his first look at the woman and was puzzled.

He could have sworn he'd seen her before.

But not on Midgard, every single person he'd met since falling to Midgard with his powers gone all those years ago were carefully remembered and this woman was not on that list. But where could she possibly be from? Not Asgard, certainly and not Vanaheim either. She could not be one of the Jotnar, nor Alfar nor Dvergar and certainly not Eldjotnar.

So where had he seen her?

Luckily, Steve and she were coming near where he was, Steve having spotted him sitting there all alone so perhaps he would have the chance to ask her himself.

"Thor, you look lonely."

"Captain."

"I told you, off duty it's just Steve."

"And who might you be milady?" Thor asked the woman.

"Therese." She smiled softly. "Therese York."

"Therese, this is Thor."

"Thor Odinson, prince of Asgard at your service." Thor said hoping the use of his title would coax her into telling him what realm she came from.

"It's nice to meet you Thor." She said plainly before turning her attention to Steve. "And thank you for the dance even though you were pushed into it."

"My pleasure Ma'am."

"Have we met before?" Thor asked before she could leave. He was trying and failing to place her in any of his memories.

She startled, taken aback. "Pardon?"

"I'm certain I've seen you before."

"No, we've never met, I'm sorry. I just have one of those faces I guess." She said laughingly.

Only she didn't have one of those faces, he would not forget the name that belonged to it so easily. She had rather a pretty one, oval shaped face, rosebud mouth and big doe eyes coloured a flinty grey and he could swear he'd seen the heart shaped mole on her collarbone before. He was also sure he'd seen panic flash in those eyes when he asked if they'd met before but she hadn't _recognised_ him either. So why was she afraid and what was she afraid of?

"Are you certain?"

"I think I'd remember meeting you." She said but stepped back the smile dimming a bit. He must have scared her, Thor realised and rubbed his hand on the back of his neck, thoroughly chastised. "I'll be leaving now, thank you again Steve."

"You're welcome."

She hurried off then, stopping to say her goodbyes to Pepper and kissing her cheeks before leaving and the second she was out of sight Steve turned on him.

"What was that all about?"

"I swear I've seen her before."

"Doubt it big guy, Pepper said she's some hot shot designer, notoriously reclusive."

"Lady Pepper knows of her?" It didn't surprise Thor, Pepper Potts knew almost everybody important. Perhaps she could help him place her.

"Well yeah, she's the one who told us to dance. Pep found the most old-fashioned person she could and tried to set her up with me." Steve laughed. "What a waste of her time, that dame's clearly taken."

"She is?"

"Judging by the ring on her left hand, definitely."

Thor didn't care about her ring, he just wished he knew why she was so familiar and yet unfamiliar at the same time.

"So you're heading back to Asgard soon, right?"

"Yes, my father had need of me for a diplomatic mission."

And there he would get the answers he was seeking. Heimdall saw all after all.


	2. Chapter 2

Tony looked at him blankly.

"You want me to look into a private citizen, find out their entire life history all because you have a 'strange feeling'?"

His scepticism was lost on Thor. Besides, the man had done a lot more on simple little guesses and Thor felt very strongly that there was something off about Therese.

"Please?"

A moment of silence and then Tony shrugged. "Why not? HELEN, everything you have on Therese York."

The air filled with images and information that had Thor questioning himself. It was just so ordinary. Such normality that no one would look twice at her.

Thor sighed. "I suppose there are times when even I am wrong." He wasn't really used to being wrong. Not when it came to people.

"I wouldn't be so sure." Tony frowned. "There's very little here."

"She was a quiet person even when we met her. It is unsurprising that she would have very little on her file."

"No, this is the kind of little you usually see on a person who's living under an assumed identity. It's all there, the parking tickets, the credit card bills, the reports from the foster care system. But it's too neat."

"Neat?"

"Neat. Life is messy. There is absolutely no mess here. Look," Tony waved a hand and his file was up on the screen. His picture and more were all being projected, along with others associated with him. Thor's own picture came up. "This is me. As you can see, I have lived a very nice life. Yes, quite nice indeed." Tony trailed off with a smirk, clearly lost in thought. Thor coughed discreetly and Tony jolted. "And here's her."

Next to one another the stark blankness of her file was obvious.

"Lives are nebulous and there should be some account of it but there isn't. The only connections she has are work clients and those trace back only...five years. Interesting."

"What is?"

"The first _real_ report on her is at a camp set up for those who had been trapped or hurt in the Chitauri battle. Says here she was suffering from malnutrition and temporary retrograde amnesia but otherwise fine. After that there's a boom in her life, not personal but still. Huh-" Tony frowned.

"What is it?"

A video began playing on the screen. Therese was stumbling and running out of a gate and onto the street. Her hair was a bird's nest, she looked wan and terrified and clutched something in her arms seemingly unaware of the chitauri flying over her very head, dropping onto the ground.

"Catatonic, is that not the word you would use."

"Yeah sure but this is just weird." Tony frowned tilting his head in thought.

"What is?"

"There's no footage of her entering that place. There's no footage of her at all before this." He turned to Thor. "So how'd she get into the graveyard?"

* * *

**_Five Years ago_**

_Wake up_

Toes curled as the ground underneath them shook. Their owner hummed softly and in the deep slumberous state she was in, the sounds of destruction not far outside went unheard. But there was an itch in her ear and her hand moved to scratch at it absently.

_Wake up_

There was an insistent buzzing in the air that was annoying and she frowned. Her sleep turned light of its own accord.

_It is time_

Time for what?- her mind asked and she opened her eyes, the sound of her own heartbeat insistent, drumming up a storm in her chest. The hand that had moved to scratch her ear moved to her face and she rubbed the fist over her eyes as if to rub out the grains left there by the Sandman. Her other hand moved to join its twin and she noticed the weight upon it and finally opened her eyes.

It was dark. As much as her eyes continued to blink and wait to adjust, for things to grow clear, they did not. There was nothing to be seen and a panic rose in her. She stumbled out of bed (Bed? Weren't beds soft? This one certainly wasn't) and surged to her unstable feet. She gasped at the feel of cold stone under her and the weight she had been clutching fell.

She dove to catch it in the dark, her mind insisting that it was important and began to walk, one arm clutched to her chest holding it while the other was outstretched groping the air for _something_, anything. Her fingers hit stone and she followed it to where a seam was to be felt. Gingerly she pushed and managed to fall into a big bright world.

Too bright . She fell to her knees with a soft cry, her arm coming up to shield her eyes, blinded as they were. It took only a few seconds but felt like an eternity, her blood singing loud in her veins. Her arm dropped and she saw where she was. Plain ground punctuated by rows and rows of stone markers.

A graveyard. How did she end up there?

_You will find your answers_

She took solace in what the wind told her and turned to see her 'bedroom' and was suddenly rooted to the ground like a tree, as still as the gravestones surrounding her.

A mausoleum. What had she been doing in a mausoleum? She waited for the wind to answer her but a large noise sounded instead and all was quiet and loud at the same time. A large animal floated in the distance where her eye was trained and her breath stopped. It looked to be a flying behemoth, armoured to the hilt and glided smoothly. She ran hard and fast. Where she was headed and why she was doing so she did not know. She only knew that she needed to get out of there and stumbled onto a smooth asphalt road. The loud sound of metal twisting and screaming in protest filled the air and she was pulled by an unknown to cover.

"The hell are you doing lady?!" The man who had all but dragged her inside to a tiny place, shutters half broken in the window said.

"I-I- don't-"

"Can't you see there's a battle going on out there?"

"Battle?" She stuttered and looked out to see that the whales had adversaries and they were rending them apart. "What's-what's going on?"

"Hell if I know."

A woman came up from behind him the kind man and sat her down. "Are you alright?"

"I'm not ...not..."

"Calm down, just take deep breaths alright?" She did so and felt her heart stop trying to break out her ribcage and settle down. "Good, now what's your name?"

She stilled. "I don't know."

The whispered answer had her rescuers exchanging glances but the wind spoke again.

_It will come to you soon, much time has been lost_

"Do you know where you are?" The man asked and she shook her head in the negative. "Damn!"

"What's that in your hands?" The woman asked and she looked at the weight she had been holding onto all this while to find herself looking at a book. It was large and heavy, bound with dark brown leather. She opened it and began to read.

Columns and columns of names were written in it in dark ink that glowed with a golden tinge to it. She wondered if one of the names was hers.

_Patience, do not look for it, it simply is_

"She needs a hospital." The man said and the woman rolled her eyes.

"You want to take her there in this?" She waved her hands at the scene outside. Debris and dust kept on falling in waves and bodies, strange, inhuman ones, fell out of the sky every now and then.

_You know who you are, don't you?_

Did she know who she was, she wondered and the answer hit her like a sledgehammer.

"Oh, I think I've remembered my name." She said suddenly and the couple sighed in relief.

"Mind, sharing with us then?"

"Therese. My name is Therese."


End file.
